Rabbi Amsalem and the Worst Haaretz Translation Ever

Haaretz has an interview (hat tip) with Rabbi Haim Amsalem. The interview is interesting, both for the discussion about Amsalem’s background and his comments on the events of the last few weeks. A major problem is that the English version (Hebrew version here) includes a horrible translation error. This is what is written in the English version.

Amsellem himself studied under Rabbi Meir Mazuz, head of the Kise Rahamim Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, and was close to the rabbi until he died.

The original Hebrew says that Rabbi Amsalem “was close to the rabbi for many years until recently.” Google even translated it better than Haaretz.

…and was an associate for many years, until the last few days.

I have written an email to the author of the article to try and get this corrected.

Update: The author of the article, Yair Ettinger, was quick to respond and the online version has been corrected. A better way that I could have translated the end of the sentence would be- “was for many years, until recently, a close associate of his.”